Site Mobile Navigation

Giuliani Tells Sex-Based Shops That the End Is Drawing Near

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced yesterday that sex shops and strip clubs violating the city's tough new zoning law could be shut down beginning tomorrow, and he warned businesses that last-minute changes -- like dressing dancers in T-shirts or bikinis -- might not help them.

Mr. Giuliani said that during the time that the sex-oriented businesses had been fighting the new law in court, city investigators had spent a year or more compiling files on the shops and clubs so that they could be padlocked without warning as soon as courts allow enforcement to begin. Barring a last-minute court setback, he said, that would be tomorrow.

At a news conference, the Mayor said inspectors would use a variety of charges, like implying sexual entertainment in advertising, admitting underage patrons, or serving as a meeting place for people who then go elsewhere to engage in illegal activity.

''In some cases we have a pattern of activity, so merely making a change now might not, in fact, satisfy the law,'' he said. ''There are lots of factors that can be looked to, and you can be sure that we'll be looking to all of them.''

Officials said the agencies that would be involved included the Police Department, the Department of Buildings and the Office of Midtown Enforcement, which was established in 1976 in an effort to drive the businesses out of Times Square.

The zoning law bans the sex-oriented theaters, massage parlors, bars, bookstores, video stores and cabaret clubs from operating within 500 feet of homes, schools, churches, or each other. The restrictions took effect in 1995, and businesses had a year to comply. They have been fighting it ever since, but the city has won victory after victory in state and Federal courts.

On Friday, a group of 107 of the businesses asked that the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit delay enforcement to allow them to take their case to the Supreme Court. Herald Price Fahringer, the lawyer for the group, said enforcement would drive most of his clients out of business.

''We have a strong First Amendment argument, but it won't be much use if the businesses have already had to close,'' said Mr. Fahringer, who says he has specialized in defending obscenity cases for 25 years.

The Mayor criticized the last-minute legal appeal by shop owners, but acknowledged that a court could delay his plans again. ''We've learned in the past that they try to exhaust every single opportunity to abuse our legal system,'' he said. ''There really is nothing to their legal argument. It's completely disposed of by Federal and state judges at every level. But inevitably it'll be affirmed and we'll be able to get rid of them.''

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

The Mayor has said that carrying out the restrictions on sex-oriented shops was high on his list for his second term, and the crackdown plays a starring role on the roster of quality-of-life improvements that he cites in speeches across the country. In those addresses, he has called the shops ''corrosive institutions'' that destroy neighborhoods and discourage what he calls ''legitimate businesses.''

Mr. Giuliani said he would not reveal details of his enforcement blitz. But he said that once it started, no warnings would be issued. ''If they haven't figured it out by now, then there's no point in giving them a warning,'' he said.

Mr. Fahringer said he was frightened by the breadth of enforcement the Mayor announced yesterday. ''It's not enough for them to comply with the law,'' Mr. Fahringer said. ''He wants to stamp them out. Maybe we should all just be real good people and not even think about sex.''

He said some video stores had already begun reducing their sex-oriented titles to less than 40 percent of their stock, which he said should bring them into compliance with the law. ''The Mayor just wants to be punitive,'' Mr. Fahringer said.

Employees of some topless clubs have said they hope to stay in business by clothing dancers in bikinis or T-shirts. But Mr. Giuliani declared that efforts to ''just get around'' the law's intent would fail, since nudity was ''only one of many criteria'' that the police and other enforcement officials would consider.

''They're going to have to reform themselves and change the essential nature of the kind of operation that they are,'' he said. ''If they do that, then obviously they will have complied with the law. If they don't, then just changing one facet of their operation is not going to be enough.''

Councilman Walter L. McCaffrey, a Democrat from Queens who helped draft the zoning law, said he knew of at least three businesses that have started negotiating leases in other areas. Others are considering becoming sports bars or conventional bars, he said.

Mr. McCaffrey said efforts to outfit topless dancers with bathing suits were doomed not because of any city law, but because of market competition. ''These folks are in denial,'' he said. ''People aren't going to pay $7.50 for a juice to watch something they can see on Rockaway Beach.''

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this article appears in print on July 20, 1998, on Page B00001 of the National edition with the headline: Giuliani Tells Sex-Based Shops That the End Is Drawing Near. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe